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Theme and variations.(Letter to the editor)
SIR: In "A Tribute to Quadrant" (November 2006) John Howard spoke of the Left's delusion that Ho Chi Minh was a Jeffersonian democrat intent on spreading liberty in Asia. The Prime Minister cited George Orwell: "One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool."
This sounds like a reworking of an adage widely attributed to Orwell: "There are some ideas so ridiculous that only an intellectual could believe them." Other versions of this celebrated remark appear from time to time in printed publications and on the internet. For example, "There are some ideas so ridiculous [absurd/silly] that only an intellectual [intellectuals] could [would] believe them."
The problem is that I can't find this observation anywhere in Orwell's collected essays, articles and letters. Is there a Quadrant reader who can help?
Otherwise, it would appear that one of my (and the PM's) favourite Orwell sayings is apocryphal.
George Fairbanks, Somerton Park, SA.
The Deputy Editor replies: The source of the quotation is the essay "Notes ...
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- Magazine article from: Policy Review Miller, Cheryl August 1, 2005 700+ words
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- Works of George Orwell: Selected Biography
- Reference information from: Monarch Notes Orwell, George January 1, 1963 700+ words
...1963 Selected Biography I. Works By George Orwell (Editions cited below should be easily...Works (Selected) Atkins, John. George Orwell: A Literary and Biographical Study...Animal Farm.) Brander, Laurence. George Orwell. New York: Longmans, Green and Co...
Source: HighBeam Research, Theme and variations.(Letter to the editor)